How realistic is BBC's eery new drama 'Trust Me'?

If you watch any TV at all, it’s likely you’ve either heard of or watched the latest classic BBC drama ‘Trust Me’.

The story line centres around Cath Hardacre, played by the insanely talented, and soon-to-be first female Doctor Who (yass), Jodie Whittaker.

Cath is a brilliant nurse who is later suspended from the NHS after whistleblowing about the neglect of patients in hospital. Suddenly without a means of income to support her daughter, she spots a way to earn good money while being appreciated in the medical world: Stealing her best friend’s identity and faking it as a doctor.

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The desperate – and slightly drunken – decision leads Cath, who now goes by Ally (the name of her actual doctor friend who conveniently moved to New Zealand) to relocate to Edinburgh from Sheffield and pretend to be a fully qualified doctor in the city’s hectic accident and emergency department. What could go wrong, eh?

The show has enthralled, hooked and creeped out me and many viewers in equal measure whilst also leaving us wondering: Could this actually happen in our health service?

In the show, it seems all Cath needs is her friend’s CV and university degree certificates to get a job in what is already a stretched and busy NHS. But surely it's not that simple?

Alarmingly, the show is the brainchild of former NHS doctor Dan Sefton who has said he thinks there are “loads of people who aren’t real doctors”.

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“It’s not that hard to fake it if you have some qualifications,” he told the BBC. “Part of this thing is that people don’t ask too many questions. We set this deliberately in a place that was on the periphery and struggling to recruit.”

Rightttttt. In response to our panicked query, NHS Protect, the arm of the health service responsible for protecting staff and resources from crime (usually financial crime like fraud and people stealing money), disputed this, saying it would be very difficult to fake being a doctor. Phew.

BBC

“A person would have to pull off multiple deceptions to get very far as a fake doctor - for example stealing the identity of a registered doctor, forging academic qualifications, convincing their peers and patients they know what they are doing, and getting through the nets of a variety of authorities - their seniors at work - both clinicians and management, their professional bodies and regulators such as the Care Quality Commission,” a spokesperson told us.

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We asked the General Medical Council (GMC), the body who aim to protect patients and improve medical practice in the UK, just what checks doctors have to undergo before starting new jobs.

“Employers have a responsibility to thoroughly check a doctor’s identity and qualifications when they are going through the recruitment process and there are numerous checks they need to carry out,” a spokesperson told us.

“They have an obligation to check that all doctors they employ hold a license to practise with the appropriate type of GMC registration and that they are the person whose name is on the GMC register.”

There are a number of pre-employment checks which should be followed. The NHS spells out six which employers must carry out:

Identity checks – This is normally a combination of identity documents like a passport and driving license with a proof of address such as a bank statement.

Professional registration and qualification checks – For example, ensuring they are registered with a medical body (all UK doctors must be registered with the GMC) and have medical degrees.

Employment history and reference checks – Standard to most jobs, the recruiters contact all employers from the last three years to confirm they worked where they said.

Right to work checks – Again, pretty standard: Checking they are a British citizen through their passport or, if they are not from the UK, that they have work visas.

Work health assessments – Checking they are fit and healthy enough to practice medicine.

Criminal record checks – Again, pretty self-explanatory, but NHS recruiters also need to make sure employees have had a DBS check which checks someone’s criminal history as a legal requirement if they work in healthcare and/or come into contact with children.

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In the second episode of the show, which aired this week, Cath was seen spending £800 on a fake passport when the hospital HR were beginning to sniff around to skirt round at least one of those pre-employment checks. Worrying.

Despite the absolute bewilderment that this could happen IRL, it has. According to the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS), since 2004 there has been 13 cases of offences under section 49 of the 1983 Medical Act: Pretending to be registered as a doctor.

“Any person who wilfully and falsely pretends to be or takes or uses he name or title of physician, doctor of medicine, licentiate in medicine and surgery, bachelor of medicine, surgeon, general practitioner or apothecary, or any name, title, addition or description implying that he is registered under any provision of this Act, or that he is recognised by law as a physician or surgeon or licentiate in medicine and surgery or a practitioner in medicine or an apothecary, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine not exceeding level 5 on the standard scale," the law says.

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The law is very clear, and the fictional Dr Ally Sutton definitely is breaking it. The penalty is a fine which could reach up to £5,000.

The 57-year-old from London was previously jailed in 2011 for 27 months for faking that he was a qualified doctor, despite never having completed medical school. He went on to work in very well-paid roles (earning more than £329,000 from 2001 to 2010) in clinical strategy management positions for nine years. He was also ordered to repay £270,000.

When he came out of jail in 2013 he then applied for several more roles in the NHS (some of which paid more than £100,000 per year). In January, he was sentenced to 17 months imprisonment after pleading guilty to six counts of fraud.

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In 2012, a 50-year-old man called Abdul Pirzada, pleaded guilty to impersonating a doctor. A former asylum seeker from Afghanistan, Prizada exaggerated his medical qualifications and employment history and got jobs in Birmingham as a health care assistant, physician’s assistant and even a locum (freelance) GP.

Pirzada was caught when a pharmacist noticed he did not appear on the NHS approved lists, according to the CPS. He was convicted of fraud and obtaining an advantage by deception and sentenced to 15 months imprisonment.

“Although patients attending the surgery put their trust in the fact they thought they were being treated by a qualified doctor, fortunately the deception came to light before any patient suffered any lasting harm,” the CPS said in a statement at the time.

Let’s also be clear that while these cases, and the other few other examples, are terrifying, the vast majority of staff in our health service are incredible, caring people who devote their lives to saving others.

Protests against cuts and privatisation to the NHS in March, 2017

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All you need to do is turn on the news every week to see there are strains on the NHS making the pressures on our doctors and nurses even more difficult – yet they still pull through on long night shifts, limited resources and in emotionally traumatic circumstances to help others.

We asked the NHS what their response was to all this new found interest in fake doctors and whether patients have anything to worry about.

On the one hand, the spokesperson said they are happy that awareness of fraud in the NHS is being raised: “We stress that NHS Protect are experts in investigating financial crimes - these more often involve people whose clinical ability is not in question, but are still untrustworthy individuals, and therefore have no place in the health service.” They reiterated that any viewers who suspect someone of fraud within the NHS can report it here.

On the other hand, while the show is fascinating – and bloody gripping, roll on next week! – “it would be unfortunate if the storyline undermined viewers’ confidence in the profession as a whole”.

“Putting your trust in doctors and seeing them regularly is still much safer than avoiding doctors,” they said.

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